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Sometimes I must be silent
For that is the only way
To know a little better,
To think a little wiser,
To become a little more perfect,
To claim God a little sooner.

No matter which path you follow for meditation, the first and foremost task is to try to make the mind calm and quiet. If the mind is constantly roaming, if it is all the time a victim of merciless thoughts, then you will make no progress whatsoever. The mind has to be made calm and quiet so that when the light descends from above, you can be fully conscious of it. In your conscious observation and conscious acceptance of light, you will enter into a profound meditation and see the purification, transformation and illumination of your life.

How will you make the mind calm and quiet? The mind has its own power, and right now this power is stronger than your present eagerness and determination to meditate. But if you can get help from your heart, then gradually you will be able to control your mind. The heart, in turn, gets constant assistance from the soul, which is all light and all power.

In light, vision and reality are one. You are sitting there and I am standing here. Let us say that I am the vision and you are the reality. I have to look at you and enter into you in order to know you. But in the highest meditation reality and vision are one. Where you are, I also am there; where I am, you are. We are one. That is why in the highest meditation we do not need thoughts. In the highest meditation the knower and the thing to be known are one.

Even reflection, which is a quiet kind of introspective thinking, is far from the disciplined vastness of meditation. The moment we start thinking, we play with limitation and bondage. Our thoughts, no matter how sweet or delicious at the moment, are painful and destructive in the long run because they limit and bind us. In the thinking mind there is no reality. Each moment we are building a world, and the following moment we are breaking it. The mind has its purpose, but in the spiritual life we have to go far above the mind to where there is eternal peace, eternal wisdom and eternal light. When we go beyond thinking with the help of our aspiration and meditation, only then can we see and enjoy God’s Reality and God’s Vision together.

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Everything happens within you. Nothing ever happens to you. You are the non-dual consciousness that is experiencing the words on this page, and yet that consciousness is so empty and spacious that nothing ever happens to it. Just as a thunderstorm passes through the sky but does not happen to the sky, every thought, feeling, desire, sensation and event happens in awareness, but does not happen to it.

This is more obvious when it comes to an external event that doesn’t take place near you. A bird flying high above you or the distant sound of traffic obviously happens within the field of awareness, but it doesn’t feel like these events happen to you. Yet if that bird flew right in front of your face, or that traffic was slowing you down on the highway, there is a tendency to think something is happening to you. And anything that arises within your own body and mind feels even more like something that happens to you. If a strong experience of fear or desire or confusion arises, we tend to think it has happened to us instead of within us.

The sky is unharmed by the thunderstorm, and that is why we would say the storm happened in the sky instead of to the sky. What about your experiences, thoughts, feelings, and desires? Do they harm your awareness? Or do they eventually pass like a summer rain-cloud? Is your awareness damaged by them, or is awareness still empty and awake, awaiting the next experience after a sensation, feeling, or thought passes?

Your body is within awareness. Because of its physical nature, something can happen to it that leaves a relatively lasting effect, but what about the awareness that is experiencing the body? Every sensation comes and goes in awareness. The sensations in your body are always changing and shifting, and then your attention also moves to other elements of your experience. Even a chronic painful condition is not in your awareness every moment. So even physical events or injuries do not happen to you, they happen within you. What would it mean if a sore muscle or a stomach ache was not happening to you, but just within your field of awareness? What if everything that happens within your body is just another event within the open sky of consciousness?

The most surprising thing is that this is even true of your deepest and innermost feelings and desires. There are feelings of unworthiness and intense longings that can arise deep within your chest or abdomen. It can almost seem like they are a part of you. And yet even they are happening within the field of awareness, and not really to you. What would it mean if a deep feeling of sadness or an overwhelming desire for true love was not happening to you, but just within your field of awareness? What if everything that moves within your heart and mind is just another event within the open sky of consciousness?

All experience passes like a rain-cloud and leaves behind the fresh, open space of endless awareness. The source of awareness is always here. You are always here. Everything else happens within awareness. Everything else comes and goes. There is not even a separate you within awareness because you are the source of awareness. And so, nothing happens to you; everything happens within you.

O Nose!
Smell the Tulasi leaves and flowers
That have been used in the worship of Him

O Hands!
Offer flowers to Him.
Sweep the temple.
Clean the lights in the temple.
Bring flowers and Tulasi for worship.
Do charity and do service,
In worship of Lord.

O Feet!
Do Pradakshina around the temple.
Go on pilgrimage to temples.

O Body!
Serve the devotees, saints and the Guru.
Serve the poor and the sick.

Prayer to the Lord

O Lord of compassion!
Just hear my prayer.
The mind is very mischievous.
It is very turbulent.
It is disobedient.
I scolded the mind.
I gave him admonitions.
I gave him good counsels.
But he has his own ways.
I told the mind clearly
Not to take Sweet
When there is diarrhoea.
He said, Very well
Like the lady in labour pains.
But he eats sweet again!
I told the mind
Not to speak ill of others.
But he never leaves this habit!
I again and again told the mind
Not to become angry.
But he becomes annoyed
For trifling things!
I cannot control the mind.
Thou art the Indweller
And prompter of the mind.
You alone can control him,
Please do this for me.

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O Mind! You are a fool. You have dragged me in the avenues of senses and brought disgrace on me.

I will not keep company with you in future.

You are playing truant. You are a mischievous monkey. You are a strolling street-dog. You are a pig who revels in filth. You are a vile wretch. You are a vagabond.

You are born of Ananda (bliss). Your parentage is very high. Your father is Brahman or the Absolute. You are born in a very exalted, reputed and cultured family and yet you have degraded yourself and me also by your useless company. Your mother Maya(delusion) also is born in a very high family. She is the wife of Brahman.

Your very Svabhava(nature) is to run towards external, sensual objects. Just as the water runs downwards without any effort by its very nature, so also you run by your very nature towards perishable mundane things. You get knocks, blows and kicks and yet you repeat the same old things. You have become like a habitual, old criminal. Any amount of advice and admonition has not done you any good nor reformed your nature and character. Fie on thee!

Now I will totally disconnect myself from you. I will leave you alone. You can do just as you please. Good-bye unto you! I am going back to my original Supreme Abode of Immortality and Eternal Bliss.

O Ear! You also have been spoiled by your company with the mind. You do take immense delight in hearing the censure of others and all sorts of news of the world, but you do not take so much delight in hearing the Lilas of the Lord and the Kirtan, religious discourses and sermons.

O Eye! You have no interest in looking at the picture of the Lord, images of God in temples, saints and Mahatmas; but you are wholly absorbed in looking at women.

O Nose! You are highly pleased in smelling the odour of scents, lavender, etc.; but you do not evince any interest in smelling the sweet fragrance of the flowers etc., offered to the Lord.

O Tongue! You dance in joy in eating sweet-meats, fruits and all other palatable dishes; but there is no joy for you in taking Charanamrita and Prasad of the Lord in temples.

O Skin! You rejoice in touching women and other soft things; but you do not experience happiness in touching the feet of the Lord and the saints.

O Vak-Indriya! You daily talk all sorts of non-sense. You take delight in abusing others, in scandal-mongering and backbiting; but you do not feel any joy in singing Lords Name and doing Japa and studying the Gita and other holy scriptures.

O Hands! You are highly pleased in taking bribes, in beating others, in stealing others properties, in touching women; but you do not rejoice in doing charity, in serving the poor people and Sadhus, in doing worship of the Lord and offering flowers to Him.

O Feet! You take delight in going to cinemas, clubs, restaurants, hotels; but you do not find happiness in going to places of pilgrimage, temples and Ashrams.

O Senses! Behave properly in future. This is the last chance for you. Improve yourselves and get a good name. If you live for the Lord and serve Him, you will be ever happy. All miseries will come to an end.

O Mind! You are still under delusion,
Even after doing some Spiritual practice
And enjoying the good company of great souls.
Why do you, O Mind, forget
That this world is a manifestation of Lord?
Why do you become angry,
Although you know
That all are forms of Lord?
Why do you offer stale plantains to Lord,
Who feeds the whole world
With all kinds of food?
How vainly do you offer to the Lord
Sweetmeats, fruits and Shundal!
Feed Him with the nectar of devotion
And be happy forever.

Sacrifice the Passions

O Mind, why art thou so anxious?
Abandon all anxieties.
Repeat Lords Name.
Sit in meditation in a quiet place.
Worship the Lord in secret
So that none may know.
You will become proud
From all pomp of worship.
Why do you sacrifice animals?
Sacrifice egoism, Like-Dislike
And the lust-passions.
What need is there for drums,
Bells and tom-toms?
Clap your hands
And lay your mind at His feet.
Why do you endeavor to illumine Him
With lamp and candle?
Light the jeweled lamp of the Mind.
Let is flash its lustre day and night.

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O Mind! You have all along been
In the habit of thinking
That wife, children and bungalows
Are your great possessions.
You have failed to bow
Before the Supreme Lord and saints.
Rest, my Mind, rest at the feet of Lord.

O Mind! Surely this body will drop down.
Every moment life is shortening;
The Serpent of Time is swallowing.
The Prana will depart at any moment.
You are happy-go-lucky and playful.
You are silly and stupid.

O Mind! Thou art blind.
You see only this vanity of things.
You do not see the great end drawing near.
Death is creeping in silently.
Wake up, O Mind,
From thy slumber of ignorance
And think of the all-merciful Lord.

There is no hope for thee
Except through the glorious Lord.
Break through the illusion
And take refuge in Lord.
Then alone you are blessed.
Thus sayeth Sivananda.

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O Mind! Devotions path and devotees company take;
Then Lord will in thy inner Self, His sacred abode make.
Give up forever all abuse of man or beast;
Love and praise all, greatest as well as least.
At early dawn, O Mind, think intently on Lord;
Then soft, yet audible, chant His sweet Name.
Right conduct, the supreme good, never a moment renounce;
The righteous one, all mankind on earth, most blessed pronounce.

Never have, O Mind, this anger, so fraught with untold harm;
Never foul desire with all its variegated charm.
Never into thyself, the least access give,
To pride and to jealousy as long as you live.
A lofty ideal in life you shouldst conceive,
All the abuse of the world with forbearance receive.
Thyself shouldst always observe sweetness of speech,
For sweetness, the inmost heart of mankind doth reach.

Perform, O Mind, such actions just, noble and pure,
That, after demise, tend forever to make thy fame endure.
In selfless service wear thyself like sandal-wood;
In inmost heart do thou pray for universal good.
O Mind! Earthly wealth and treasures do not covet;
Selfishness of nature, O Mind, most ruthlessly reject.
Greed of mind, when unfulfilled, great sorrow brings;
Sinful acts, the heart later on with sharp remorse wrings.
Ever and anon on the Divine Lord let pour thy love,
To vicissitudes of life calmly and fearlessly bow.
Pains of physical form as mere trifles regard,
For, in essential nature, thou art natures overlord.